Rufus Porter Museum – Perch Design Studio | Portland, Maine

Summary: Cohesive exhibit graphics, interactive displays, and a modern interpretation of a prolific New England artist-inventor's life and legacy.
Client: Rufus Porter Museum of Art and Ingenuity
Location: Bridgton, Maine

The Rufus Porter Museum of Art and Ingenuity offers a fascinating glimpse into the life and legacy of Rufus Porter, once called “the Yankee Davinci” for his diverse array of talents and interests.

Founded by a dedicated group of volunteers near Porter’s family homestead, the museum was recently gifted an exciting new collection of wall murals painted by Jonathan D. Poor, a Rufus Porter protégé. To house these murals, a new timber frame barn was built on the museum’s campus. Our studio helped the museum transform its existing and new galleries into a cohesive and engaging visitor experience, starting from blank slate and retelling the story of Rufus Porter through three lenses: his unique life and itinerant lifestyle, his contributions to early American folk art, and the spirit of ingenuity that his work embodied.

Transforming a Small Museum

Our goal for this museum-wide overhaul was to revisit Rufus Porter’s work and legacy and establish a narrative that encouraged visitors from all backgrounds to find significance in the exhibits. We began the project with a discovery phase that helped the organization clarify their target audiences, identify key takeaway messages, organize their collection, and establish a budget and scope of work for the new exhibits.

Building upon the museum’s small (but growing) collection of artwork, objects, and materials, we consolidated artifacts to support a series of experiences—one per building on the RPM campus—that begins with an overview of Porter’s life and then expands into a broader-reaching look at his impact and influence. Our studio wrote most of the narrative copy, designed all exhibit graphics, designed and developed each interactive experience, and orchestrated the fabrication and installation of each component.

Adding Analog & Digital Interactivity

To keep visitors engaged in this relatively niche subject matter, we integrated opportunities for interaction throughout the visitor path, eschewing the aesthetic of a house museum in favor of a more hands-on approach. As a visitor moves through the buildings, they encounter a mix of interaction types: a digital timeline of Porter’s wanderings and works, a replica of Porter’s Curious Arts to leaf through, an interactive mechanical corn sheller and rotary pump based on Porter’s patent drawings, a large magnetic wall mural that encourages visitors create their own landscape composition, a button-controlled backlit display of Porter’s invention drawings, and a digital photo gallery that encourages visitors to have their own portrait dynamically added to the wall.

An interactive timeline guides visitors through Porter's life of wandering and prolific creation, controlled through either a touchscreen interface or attached spin wheel.

Porter founded (and later sold) Scientific American. Original issues are on display in floating frames.

This 7-foot model of Porter's "Aerial Locomotive", an ahead-of-its-time idea for coast-to-coast travel, hangs in the new Graham Center.

Copywriting, graphics, and casework are tightly integrated to support a narrative thread that leads visitors throughout each space.

Using a webcam interface disguised as a period-appropriate framed work, visitors can have their photo taken and added to a dynamic portrait gallery.

This was an exciting and challenging project from start to finish, requiring an all-hands-on-deck design/build approach from our studio to help fill the needs of a 2-employee organization and establish a foundation upon which future exhibits can be built.

We enjoyed doing a deep dive into the life of a fascinating (and overlooked) historical figure, finding new ways to integrate analog and digital interactive moments into the visitor experience, and managing much of the fabrication of this surprising and delightful diversion in downtown Bridgton.